Photo: David J. Hogan
Justin Bieber has been banned from performing live in China due to his on and offstage antics threatening what the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture see as appopriate for their country.
The reasons for his ban were revealed on Tuesday when a user of the Bureau's website, asked: "Why not allow Justin Bieber to perform in China?" Their response has since become viral after being spotted by The New York Times.
In their paragraph reply, the Bureau talked about finding it necessary to sanitise the entertainment market in China and given Bieber's immaturity evidenced by a number of incidents of "bad behaviour overseas" and "domestic activities have caused public dissatisfaction," they believe they have reason enough to uphold their decision.
The New York Times probed the ban, and an official at the organization told the pubilcation that she was unaware of the stance and offered no details.
It remains unclear how long Bieber is banned for, but the end of the statement hints that he could be back as they "hope Justin Bieber in the process of growing up."
Some of the antics Beijing could be referring to could include the 2013 incident of the 'Purpose' singer being carried up the Great Wall of China. Pictures were leaked onto the internet.
2013 brought bad news story after bad news story for the tween idol. Announcing his retirement and immediately backtracking, assaulting his tour manager, bad mouthing Bill Clinton and magnifying his grandiose sense of self-worth in Anne Frank's house. Oh, and trying to start a fight with a UK paparazzi about three times his size.
IN 2014,Bieber also caused outrage when he was pictured infront of the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo - shrine the Chinese seeas a monument to Japan’s brutal wartime past.
2016 saw Bieber manage to shed his image as a reckless badly behaved fool, but China, it seems, are in no mood to give him any slack.
China has blacklisted musicians reportedly due to their meeting up and tweeting about the exiled Dalai Lama, but not for "bad behavior." Those allegedly blacklisted include Lady Gaga, Selena Gomez, Bon Jovi, Maroon 5, Linkin Park and Bjork.
The extent of the ban is not wholly known. CNN pointed out that the singer has two shows in Shanghai on 16 and 23 September and that a Chinese ticketing site selling the tickets is unaware of the ban. It will be interesting to see an official response to international press in addition to words on a forum to clarify the extent of the ban.
